SINGAPORE ACADEMY OF LAW ANNUAL REPORT 2009/10 ITBETTER MAKING OUR MISSION & VALUES CONTENTS p. 2 About Us Building up the intellectual capital, p. 6 The President’s Review p. 8 The Senate capability and infrastructure of p. 10 Facts, Figures & Highlights p. 14 Legal Knowledge: Through Continuing Education members of the Singapore Academy p. 20 Legal Industry: Through Active Engagement p. 28 Legal Technology: Through User Participation of Law and promoting ESPRIT DE p. 32 Corporate Services: Through Human Capital CORPS among the members of the p. 36 Key Executives p. 39 Financial Review Singapore Academy of Law. Singapore Academy of Law Annual Report 2009/10 MICA (P) 142/11/2010, ISSN 1793-5679 SAL AR 09/10 p. 1 ABOUT US THE SINGAPORE ACADEMY OF LAW (THE “ACADEMY”) MR WONG MENG MENG, SC AND THE DEAN OF THE FACULTY HAS CLOSE TO 8,000 MEMBERS COMPRISING ALL PERSONS WHO OF LAW OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, ARE CALLED AS ADVOCATES AND SOLICITORS OF THE SUPREME PROFESSOR TAN CHENG HAN, SC. THE SENATE ALSO COURT OR WHO ARE APPOINTED AS LEGAL SERVICE OFFICERS. COMPRISES THE HIGH COURT JUDGES, THE DEAN OF THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE ACADEMY COMPRISES OF THE BENCH, THE SCHOOL OF LAW OF THE SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT THE BAR, AND LARGE NUMBERS OF CORPORATE COUNSEL AND UNIVERSITY, ACADEMIA AND THE PRACTISING PROFESSION. FACULTY MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL LAW SCHOOLS. THE WORK OF THE ACADEMY IS FOCUSED ON THREE KEY THE ACADEMY IS GOVERNED BY THE SENATE WHICH IS HEADED AREAS: SUPPORTING THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF BY THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE CHAN SEK KEONG THE LEGAL INDUSTRY; BUILDING UP THE INTELLECTUAL AS PRESIDENT. IN THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW, THE CAPITAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION BY ENHANCING LEGAL VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE ACADEMY WERE THE HONOURABLE KNOWLEDGE; AND IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF LEGAL ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL MRS KOH JUAT JONG, PRACTICE THROUGH LEGAL TECHNOLOGY. THE WORK OF THE THE HONOURABLE JUDGE OF APPEAL JUSTICE CHAO HICK TIN, ACADEMY IS DRIVEN BY THESE THREE CORE MANDATES. THIS THE HONOURABLE JUDGE OF APPEAL JUSTICE IN TURN IS DIRECTED TOWARDS RAISING THE STANDARD AND ANDREW PHANG BOON LEONG, THE HONOURABLE JUDGE QUALITY OF LEGAL PRACTICE AND BUILDING A STRONG AND OF APPEAL JUSTICE V K RAJAH, PRESIDENT OF THE LAW DYNAMIC LEGAL COMMUNITY IN SINGAPORE. SOCIETY OF SINGAPORE, SAL AR 09/10 p. 2 SAL AR 09/10 p. 3 GETTING RESULTS SAL AR 09/10 p. 4 SAL AR 09/10 p. 5 TO RESTRUCTURE AND IMPROVE The cluster also organised the inaugural lecture of the SAL Distinguished Speaker Series. The aim is to invite eminent jurists and prominent legal personalities to share their knowledge with members OUR CLE, THE SINGAPORE INSTITUTE of the legal fraternity in Singapore. The inaugural speaker for the series was The Honourable James OF LEGAL EDUCATION WAS Jacob Spigelman AC, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. INCORPORATED ON 18 JANUARY Legal Knowledge Cluster To serve the larger community, the legal practitioner needs to constantly upgrade his expertise to THIS YEAR AS A SUBSIDIARY OF THE remain current and relevant. The Academy has built up and made accessible a large corpus of SINGAPORE ACADEMY OF LAW. IT Singapore law through the Singapore Law Reports, LawNet and the many publications that it has produced. We have also provided continuing legal education (“CLE”) through seminars, workshops WILL OVERSEE AND CO-ORDINATE and lectures on both general and specialised areas of law practice. THE PRESIDENT’S REVIEW THE VARIOUS LEGAL EDUCATION At the Opening of the Legal Year 2010, Academy Publishing launched the landmark Singapore INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMMES Law Reports (Reissue) (“SLR(R)”), comprising 78 volumes of case law and 6 volumes of consolidated finding aids. WithSLR(R) , the Academy is able to offer the first complete and integrated set of IN SINGAPORE WHEN IT IS judgments from 1965 to 2009 in a special limited edition set and on LawNet at affordable prices. In addition, new titles on competition law and corporate governance were published. OPERATIONAL IN APRIL 2011. The Academy’s legal and public education programmes continue to be well attended. One of the highlights was the SAL Forensics Conference and exhibition which was attended by close to I am pleased to present the Singapore Academy 400 local and foreign delegates. The two-day conference featured presentations by 15 eminent of Law annual report for 2009/2010 which sets speakers including world-renowned forensic scientist, Dr Henry Lee. out our goals and strategies and analyses our performance and achievements in the past year. The Academy’s first public education seminar was similarly well-received. Over 400 students from 21 pre-university institutions attended the inaugural Junior College Law Programme which Legal Industry Cluster includes a two-day conference followed by a job-shadowing segment with law firms and other One of the core mandates of the Academy is to look at legal institutions. how the legal industry can be made more dynamic and relevant to the times. The Academy initiates To restructure and improve our CLE, the Singapore Institute of Legal Education was incorporated programmes to encourage companies and law on 18 January this year as a subsidiary of the Singapore Academy of Law. It will oversee and firms to choose Singapore as their partner for legal co-ordinate the various legal education initiatives and programmes in Singapore when it is solutions, use Singapore law as the governing law for operational in April 2011. international commercial contracts and Singapore as a venue for international dispute resolution. Legal Technology Cluster The Academy develops and promotes the use of the latest technology to facilitate easy, speedy Our website Singapore Law Watch (“SLW”), and efficient access to legal information and processes. For the past decade, LawNet has been which provides daily Singapore legal news, is Singapore’s leading legal research website and today, it is subscribed to by more than 90% of extremely popular with the legal community. Singapore lawyers. Page views of SLW has doubled to over 200,000 a month while total number of subscribers Over the past year, we have extended LawNet services to Malaysia, Australia and the UK. increased three-fold to over 4,500 subscribers. Outlook In the past year, the Singapore Mediation Centre Our mission is never ending. While much has been done, there are always new heights to scale continued to promote mediation both locally and and obstacles to overcome. Looking forward, I am confident we have the people and collective abroad. Two new mediation schemes were introduced sense of purpose to continue the Academy’s success. On behalf of the Academy, I wish to thank our to provide more cost-effective mechanisms for dispute members and staff for their contributions which have made possible the achievements in the past resolution. Firstly, family law practitioners were year. I look forward to your continuing hard work and support. encouraged to use mediation for family law cases under a scheme which offers discounted rates. Secondly, the Council for Private Education or CPE Mediation- Arbitration Scheme provides a structured and cost- Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong effective dispute resolution mechanism to cater to the President, Singapore Academy of Law needs of students and private education institutions. SAL AR 09/10 p. 6 SAL AR 09/10 p. 7 In the period under review, the Vice-Presidents of the Academy were the Honourable Acting Attorney-General Mrs Koh Juat Jong, the Honourable Judge of Appeal Justice Chao Hick Tin, the Honourable THE SENATE IS HEADED BY THE Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang Boon Leong, the Honourable HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE Judge of Appeal Justice V K Rajah, President of the Law Society of Singapore, Mr Wong Meng Meng, SC and the Dean of the Faculty of Law THE SENATE CHAN SEK KEONG AS PRESIDENT. of the National University of Singapore, Professor Tan Cheng Han, SC. The Senate also comprises the High Court Judges, the Dean of the School of Law of the Singapore Management University, academia and the practising profession. seated from left to right standing from left to right seated from left to right standing from left to right not in picture Mr Wong Meng Meng, SC 1 Justice Tan Lee Meng Justice Chan Seng Onn Justice Quentin Loh Mr Michael Hwang 4 vice-president Justice Kan Ting Chiu Justice Andrew Ang Mr Giam Chin Toon, SC Mr Sundaresh Menon, SC 5 Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang Boon Leong Justice Judith Prakash Justice Belinda Ang Saw Ean Mr Charles Lim Aeng Cheng Professor Michael Furmston vice-president Justice Lai Siu Chiu Justice Choo Han Teck Mr Leo Cheng Suan Mr Lucien Wong Acting Attorney-General Mrs Koh Juat Jong 2 Mr Joseph Grimberg, SC 3 Justice Woo Bih Li Justice Philip Pillai Professor Yeo Tiong Min vice-president Justice Lee Seiu Kin Justice Steven Chong Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong Professor Hans Tjio 4 served as Vice-President up to president 1 appointed as Vice-President Justice Tay Yong Kwang 31 July 2010 Judge of Appeal Justice Chao Hick Tin from 18 August 2010 5 appointed as Vice-President from 2 served as Vice-President 1 October 2010 vice-president up to 30 September 2010 Judge of Appeal Justice V K Rajah 3 served as Senate member vice-president up to 22 August 2010 Professor Tan Cheng Han, SC vice-president SAL AR 09/10 p. 8 SAL AR 09/10 p. 9 AUTHENTICATION CERTIFICATES NEW PUBLICATIONS ISSUED NEW SENIOR COUNSEL FACTS, FIGURES & HIGHLIGHTS APPOINTMENTS 169 4,500 EVENTS ATTENDED SLW SUBSCRIBERS BY 7,545 PEOPLE LEGAL MATERIALS & CASES UPLOADED